Heroes
by c.spn
Summary: A vacation for two best friends goes horribly wrong. An father reunites with his daughter while she stands on trial for homicide. A man loves her and will do anything to prove her innocence but holds a deep fear that he is in love with a murderer. R&R!
1. Chapter 1: Car Keys?

**Disclaimer: I do not own any C.S.I. Miami's characters or Starbucks. I only own the original characters created throughout the story. **

**Chapter One: Car Keys?**

"_You'll have to excuse me; I'm not at my best! I've been gone for a week; I've been drunk since I left!" _The crowd shouted the words to the song as they jumped up and down on the dance floor, beers in hand.

Two girls in the middle smiled widely at each other and downed the rest of their liquor, the small blonde motioned to the bathrooms to her friend who followed her closely to the bathrooms.

"Oh god, it's nuts out there." The blonde splashed water on her face and leaned against the wall. "Eww, Sara get off the wall, lord only knows who has had sex against it." Sara stood behind her friend, "I still can't believe you cut off all your hair Melissa." She played with her friends now shoulder length hair.

Melissa smiled and turned to face her friend, "I think it makes me look sophisticated." She grinned. "Makes you look like F.B.I." Sara joked. Melissa made a gun from her hands and pointed it at her friend, "Freeze!"

Sara took out her camera and snapped a picture, "C'mon Rambo, lets get back to the dance floor. There were some cute boys out there." Melissa rolled her eyes and followed her friend back to the floor.

About an hour later of dancing the two decided to leave the bar and go to the hotel for some sleep. Sara was wrapped around some tall, blonde, beach boy and had every intention of bringing him back to the hotel.

"Can we get something to drink first?" Melissa looked at her friend with pleading eyes. Sara shook her head, "You can dear, but we're going back to his room at the hotel. It's room 405, if you absolutely need something."

Melissa walked into the small coffee shop and smiled at the cashier. "What's good?" She questioned. The cashier looked confused, then warmly smiled back at her, "Not from around here?"

"Is it that obvious?" Melissa laughed, "Let me guess, the lack of tan gave it away?" She pulled her light brown hair into a small pony tail.

"That and everyone and their mother know what's good at a Starbucks." He joked, as he started to make her a simple ice tea. As he made the drink, Melissa looked at the only other person in the store, a man in a beige suit with an orange dress shirt. He seemed to be looking over some files.

_Maybe a lawyer or an acting agent…_Melissa thought to herself. "Here you are ma'am." The cashier's voice broke her train of thought. "Thanks. How much?" Melissa began to pull out her cash when the cashier told her it was on the house and then welcomed her to Miami.

"If you're walking back to the hotel by yourself, you really should be careful. Miami isn't exactly the safest of places, especially for women like you." He added. Melissa's eyes widened at the comment, "Well…I guess I'll just have to carry my keys like a knife." She joked, which caught the attention of the man sitting at the table. He didn't look directly at her but she could tell his light laugh and smile was at her comment.

"Anyways, I should really get going. My friend is all alone with a local. Want to make sure she's okay before I go to bed. I'm Melissa by the way." She extended her hand to shake his. "Aaron." He gave his name. "Now get going before she's fifty steps ahead of you." He laughed.

Melissa left the store and jogged after her friend. They had already made it to the hotel because when she went to her room no one was there but Sara had left an extra card key to room 405 in Melissa's room in case of emergency.

She opened the balcony door and stared down at the quad of her hotel building, then found herself looking into a room across the way. She could only see the silhouette of two people of what looked like some pretty creative sex. After a few minutes she saw what she thought was the man emerge onto the balcony and look around much like Melissa was.

_Oh god, I hope he doesn't think I am out here watching them…_ She thought. Melissa then pretended to be star gazing. When she thought she was safe she looked back to the room and saw him staring right back at her, with what looked like pure anger and fear.

Melissa sat up quickly, wrapping her housecoat around her very tiny frame and going back inside to her room. She took a deep breath and noticed her hands were shaking. The words of the cashier at the store echoed in her mind. …_Miami isn't exactly the safest of places…_

She sauntered slowly back to the balcony doors, he was gone from the balcony but she still saw _something_ going on from behind the curtains. The man then climbed down the fire escape and ran to a car waiting in the parking lot; the car didn't leave the lot just yet. Curious, Melissa decided she was going to check on the woman in the room, something wasn't sitting right with her.

She counted up the floors and the number of rooms over and came to the conclusion she was room 248 or 249. She grabbed her room key and the room 405 key, just in case and left the room in a hurry.

Sara came down in the elevator and entered her and Melissa's room. "Miss?" She called for her friend while stumbling around drunk. She collapsed on the bed and passed out very quickly.

Melissa stood out front of room 248 for a good ten minutes before entering. The room door was slightly ajar and there was blood on the handle it. She took a deep breath and pushed open the door, "Hello?" She whispered.

The room smelt like sweat and sex. _Maybe it's just a booty call and it got a little rough?_ She reasoned with herself, she turned to face the bedroom when her jaw dropped and phone smashed to the ground.

A woman lay on her bed, she was obviously murdered, blood stained the sheets, eyes wide open, vacant and staring directly at Melissa. "Oh my god." She breathed, walking closer to the victim. "Lady…" Melissa reached out to shake the woman, _maybe she's still alive?_ Quickly, the woman gasped and grabbed Melissa's arm with her nails. Scared, she tore herself away and scraped her skin on the nails of the woman.

"H-hang on. I-I-I'm going to call the cops. J-just keep breathing." Melissa assured the bleeding woman as she ran for her cell phone. She ran onto the balcony for better reception and dialled 911.

"911, what's your emergency?"

"I need an ambulance please, some woman, I don't know who she is. She's bleeding everywhere. I think I saw the man who did it from my room. Please, I don't think she's going to live much longer!" Melissa screamed.

"Miss, please calm down. What room are you in?" The operator asked.

"248." Melissa took a deep breath and looked up to her room. Sara was standing on the balcony; she looked like she was crying.

"We'll be there as soon as possible ma'am. Keep pressure on her wounds… Ma'am?"

The man emerged from behind Sara and grabbed her covering her mouth with a rag. "SARA!" Melissa screamed, catching the attention of the man. "Ma'am? What's going on?" The operator pressed. 

"Oh god. He's back, he went to my room, and he has my friend!" Melissa started to cry and ran back to the woman on the bed. She was dead. "The woman is dead…" Melissa stated very quietly.

"Help is on the way. Stay on the line with me. Don't leave the room, lock the door." Melissa bolted to the door and locked it. Sliding down against it crying to herself with the phone still pressed to her ear.

She heard a shrill scream from above and ran to the balcony. Melissa made it to the balcony in time to see her friend plummet to her death. "No! SARA!" She screamed and looked down; the man was climbing up the fire escape.

"Oh god. He's trying to get up the fire escape." She whispered to the 911 Operator. "What's taking so long? My friend just died!" She screamed, shutting the balcony doors and locking them.

A knock came from the front door. "Miami Dade Police, Open up." They demanded. "How do I know you're for real?" Melissa questioned, staring out at officer though the peep hole.

She saw the badge and whipped open the door. "She's in the bedroom." Melissa directed them to the bedroom then looked at the other officer, "My friend's body is in the quad. He threw her over. I didn't see it, but I know he threw her."

"We'll check it out, but you have to stay here to answer some questions C.S.I's will have for you." Melissa nodded and backed up against the wall, slowly sliding down it until she met the ground. She buried her face in her hands and quietly cried to herself.

"Horatio!" Calleigh called to him as he walked slowly towards room 248. "What's going on?" She questioned him.

"A vacationer just witnessed a double homicide. In two different rooms." He sighed, removing his sunglasses, keeping his eyes on the floor.

"Two different rooms?" Calleigh was confused. "This room and her own." Horatio clarified. "So she's out number one suspect?"

"It would seem that way wouldn't it?" He turned and walked towards the room and entered. "Where is Melissa Socoma?" Horatio asked a nearby officer, he motioned to the bathroom.

"She's just sitting on the floor. Door's unlocked; she says it's calming rather than being out here." The officer explained.

Delko and Wolfe entered the room, "What possibly could have happened that day shift gets called in to help the night shift?" Wolfe complained, rubbing his eyes. Delko laughed, "Double homicide. You want the balcony victim or the slaughtered victim?"

Wolfe thought for a moment, "Slaughtered. It's probably not even that bad; you just want to stay inside with Calleigh." Delko grinned, grabbing his kit he left outside to where Sara's body had landed.

Wolfe walked into the bedroom to the woman's body and began searching for any leads. Alexx was already there examining the wounds.

"What do you have so far Alexx?" Wolfe questioned, taking out his camera.

She shook her head and sighed, "Poor baby was only 24, probably here on vacation, looking for a good time."

"Have you seen the girl outside yet?" Wolfe snapped a picture of the woman.

"Yup, she's much younger then this woman. She's around 19. A beautiful blonde. So many children come here and just turn up a homicide victim." She explained.

"Well, they come and they party too hard, get involved with dangerous people and then turn up like this. Sometimes it's their own fault Alexx, people shouldn't be so trusting." Ryan commented.

"So I shouldn't trust you then?" A voice came from behind him. He turned around, the girl from the shop. "What are you doing here?" Ryan was shocked.

"I'm the witness." She crossed her arms, "That's my friend, dead out there. She had a bit to drink but was a smart girl. I don't think it was her own fault." She snapped.

"I didn't mean your friend…"Ryan sighed. "So you meant that about this poor woman?" Melissa shouted. "I just- "Wolfe was lost for words.

"You should really keep your opinions on someone's death to yourself. If you knew any better you'd ask questions before assuming how stupid these women are." Melissa was furious; he eyes turned a deep shade of brown.

"Miss. Socoma." Horatio approached her, "Can you explained to me what happened?" He took her arm and brought her into the hallway.

"That kitten sure has claws." Alexx laughed, "You know her?" Wolfe shook his head, "Not really, I saw her earlier tonight at the coffee shop down the street. She was talking about taking precautions while being alone. Keys as weapon kind of thing." He smiled lightly again thinking of the way Melissa had said it earlier.

"Wait what?" Alexx grabbed Ryan's camera from him. "Ryan. Do you know what these stab wounds were made from?" He stared down at the wounds, "…car keys…" He whispered. The two both stared out into the hall way at Horatio and Melissa.

"I was in my room by myself. Sara was with some beach boy upstairs in room 405. I have his key, just in case." Melissa began her story for the Lieutenant, "I was on the balcony and I noticed two people in this room…going at it…well it looked like sex. I watched for a couple minutes, which I know sounds super creepy, but I wasn't sure if it was sex or not…the curtains were in the way. Anyways, the man came out and looked around kind of suspiciously, so I pretended to be star gazing…"

"So he wouldn't think you were watching?" Horatio questioned.

"Right, but when I looked down again. He was just intensely staring at me. And these balconies are all well lit so he could make me out a little bit I'm assuming. Then I saw him go back in, a few minutes later he left down the fire escape, to a car in the parking lot. I thought they left so I went to go see what happened." She took a deep breath.

"Please continue Melissa, anything you tell us will help us catch this killer." Horatio said quietly placing his hand on hers.

"The room was open; there was blood on the handle, so I walked in. I thought maybe if they did have sex it just got a little rough or something. But then I saw the woman she looked dead but when I got closer she grabbed my arm and stared at me. I pulled away and called 911. Then I noticed my friend crying on the balcony and the same man… the same man…" Melissa started to cry.

"If you can't finish, I understand." Horatio stated. Melissa shook her head and wiped away her tears. "He put a cloth over her mouth and dragged her into the room. I went to check on the woman and she was dead. I heard my friend scream and saw her body fall to the ground. Then I saw the man climbing up the fire escape, that's when the officers came. Then he was just gone…" She took in a shaky breath.

Ryan walked into the hallway, "Melissa, do you think I could see your arm?" Melissa looked at him questionably. "Is this because the woman in there scratched me?" She asked.

"Why did she scratch you?" Horatio pressed. "I-I don't know. She just grabbed my arm with her nails and I tore myself away." Melissa explained.

"Miss. Socoma, if that's true, you're our prime suspect." Horatio mentioned. "What? No… no it was a man. I was in my room when this murder happened!"

Ryan crossed his arms, "Can anyone verify that?"

Melissa sunk against the wall and pushed her bangs back, she shook her head silently. Ryan moved behind her and handcuffed her, "You're going to have come with us."

Calleigh walked off the elevator with Delko, "You're arresting her?" She looked confused.

"Her DNA was under our victims fingernails." Alexx explained and gave a large sigh, "I think she's innocent though." She stated at Ryan walked Melissa into the elevator.

"You really think I did this?" Melissa whispered.

Ryan kept his eyes forward and he hands on her shoulder, "The evidence is there." He said coldly. She felt tears fall slowly down her face, "You think I killed my own friend too don't you?"

"It's possible."

"Why's that?" She pressed him.

"Maybe you were jealous she had a boy to go home with. Maybe you wanted him, so after you killed this woman, you went upstairs to silence to friend, maybe she saw you." He formulated an answer quickly.

"That's crazy." She whispered. "So I take it you're not a lawyer…" Melissa added.

Ryan lightened his grip on Melissa's shoulder, "Why do you ask?" He looked down at her, curious.

She shrugged, "I saw you earlier. Thought you were some lawyer or something. I wouldn't have guessed you were a cop."

Calleigh searched around Melissa bedroom for any evidence, preferably the keys used to stab the woman in room 248.

"Eric, I honestly don't think it was her. Think about it. A girl that small couldn't overpower the size of the woman downstairs. She barely weighs 110 lbs." She explained.

"We can't make any conclusions until those keys are found." Eric searched under the bed. "Hello car keys." He reached and grabbed them, "We have blood." He held them up for Calleigh to see, "Still think our girl is innocent?"

"As a matter of fact I do." Calleigh held up Sara's cell phone, "I bet I can prove her innocence before you find her guilty." She smiled.

Ryan's phone rang while in the hummer. "Wolfe." He listened for a couple minutes, and then looked over at Melissa in the passenger seat. He looked at her from head to toe, "No, I see what you mean Calleigh."

Melissa looked back at Ryan, "See what?" She mouthed.

"Alright, I'll get a personality analysis from her when I get back to the office." He hung up the phone and glanced over to Melissa. "Our C.S.I needs the password to your friend's phone."

"I think its 9834. I'm not sure though." She stated quietly.

Ryan took a deep breath through his nose, "Look, Melissa, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. About your friend. If you are innocent or not, she didn't deserve what happened to her. Sometimes I can be a grouch, not use to working the graveyard shift."

"It's okay. I'm sorry for belittling you in front of your co-workers." She played with the hem of her skirt. "You were just doing your job." Melissa finished. "Ryan?"

"Yeah?" He shifted his eyes from the road to her hers briefly.

"What is this personality analysis you have to run on me? I'm not scared or anything, just curious I guess…"

"Well," Wolfe started, "We show you some images, film, and ask you some questions. We can loosely determine whether you're capable of murder or not. Loosely though, its not 100%." He explained.

"Oh, like those Rorschach images, 'What do you see', kind of thing?" Melissa raised an eyebrow. "Never thought I'd be the one receiving those tests." She laughed lightly to herself.

"Receiving?" Ryan questioned. Melissa smiled, "I am a psychology student at my university in Canada. We just got to the point where we analyse others personality based on the Rorschach ink blobs."

"This is going to make the personality test really hard. No offence, but now we have to make sure you're given real answers. Not just pre-meditated ones." Ryan kept his eyes on the long stretch of road in front of them.

Delko handed the keys to Alexx, "Got the murder weapon. It was under Melissa's bed." She grabbed the keys and looked at the body.

"This isn't the key that killed this woman." Alexx examined.

"Then why is this key bloody?" Calleigh asked.

"A better question would be where the keys are that killed this woman…" Horatio mumbled to himself and left the room.

A.N: So, this is my first fan fiction for C.S.I. I plan to have a lot more plot to it. New chapter will probably be up by tomorrow or tonight. Let me know what you think and what should be improved.


	2. Chapter 2: I Know What Makes You Tick

**Chapter Two: I Know What Makes You Tick Mr. Wolfe**

**(I Don't own anything, true story…)**

"There's something I should mention before we get to the department…" Melissa mumbled, almost inaudible. Curious, Ryan looked over to her briefly, "Oh," He started, "like what?"

"My Dad works with the Miami Dade Police." She motioned to her purse, "In my wallet, there's a picture." Ryan pulled into the parking lot of the department and put the Hummer in park.

Melissa was expecting him to rummage through her purse in front of her, instead he undid he cuffs and let her look through the bag herself. "I though you would have taken this for evidence…" She sighed.

"Should we?" Ryan questioned, glancing inside the small brown bag. "If you must, the most interesting thing you're going to find though is a stick of gum and a tampon. Last time I checked those things can't kill people…" She was feeling spiteful again. Every time Wolfe questioned her innocence it brought out a new side to her that she knew she should be controlling.

"Right. So, who is your father?" Wolfe tried to get them back on track. "Frank Tripp. I changed my last name when my parents divorced. I took my mother's maiden name." She explained as she pulled out the photo from her wallet, handing it over to Ryan. He just chuckled to himself, "Your dad is Frank? That's hilarious. I thought his ex wife was Melissa."

"Well, she is. I'm named after her. So if he does talk about me, or her, You sometimes need to ask him to clarify who." Melissa joined in on the laugh. Ryan handed her back the photo, "We should probably go inside now. I have to handcuff you again, I'll wait until you're out of the Hummer though." He turned off the car and exited the vehicle waiting for Melissa to come around to the other side. "I need to check for any weapons so face the car and put your hands on it." He instructed.

Melissa did as she was told as she felt a bizarre emotion sweep over her body, something she wasn't familiar with. As Ryan's hands searched and patted her body from head to toe, the feeling was growing in the pit of her stomach, it could have been described as a long and dull ache in her bones, like a fire within her. Ryan moved directly behind her and grabbed her hands brining them behind her back. He could smell her sweet, almost floral scent from her hair and skin. He clasped them in place, Melissa winced, "Sorry." he uttered. The two started walking towards the entrance when Frank came running out, "Mel, sweetie! Are you okay?" He noticed the handcuffs on her, he glared at Ryan, "Why are these one her!" He shouted, "Take them off now!" he further demanded.

"Dad, its procedure. I'm being questioned." Her breath hitched, _Am I starting to take the fall for this? _She questioned herself. Frank shook his head, "No, no. You-you would never, never, never, ever do something like this." He could feel tears swelling up behind his eyes. In 8 years he hasn't had any contact with his youngest daughter and here she is, in handcuffs, being questioned for God knows what.

"Im sorry Daddy." a few tears fell from her eyes as Ryan pushed her past her father forcibly. "You're apologizing?" Wolfe questioned, confused.

"Not because you think I did this, but… I haven't seen him in eight years, and this is how he see's me? It's a let down…" She felt the tears fall again, "I've always just wanted to make him proud." Ryan held back wanting to hug her, It was his job to prove her guilty but right now he wanted to prove her innocence. He escorted her to a holding cell where 3 prostitutes sat bored out of their minds, waiting for their pimps to come bail them out. "Hey baby, when I get out we should grab a drink." The one called at Ryan.

"You'll be in here until we come to question you more." He explained sternly, putting up his C.S.I front. _No special privileges_ He reminded himself. "Ryan, don't leave me in her." Melissa begged quietly, not wanting the other ladies to overhear. "Should be too much longer." He walked away as Melissa backed slowly against the cold wall of the prison cell. "You get caught selling yourself too?" The one questioned, "I bet she did." the other laughed.

"No…" Melissa trailed off, "I'm being questioned for double homicide." The two prostitutes backed away as the other one stood beside her, "Innocent?" She whispered to Melissa. She nodded her head, "Here," the tall, lean woman handed Melissa a small white pill, "it'll take the edge off." This was a huge no-no, but she couldn't help herself, if she was going down for double homicide what harm could drug possession do? She popped the small pill into her mouth and took a drink from the fountain. Within moments her body was weak and she fell to the ground softly. She felt her eyes closing and passed out.

SLAM!

Melissa jerked up in a chair ankles and wrists cuffed and saw Ryan and a new face sitting in front of her. "Clonazepam? Really?" He questioned her.

"What was I suppose to do? You left me alone with three hookers. What did you think we were going to brush each others hair and talk about boys?" Melissa retorted, the man beside Wolfe laughed and shook his head, "This one really hates you Ryan."

"Shut up Delko. Melissa, remember the personality test we were going to give you?" She nodded her head, "Well that's now."

Delko held up a card, "What do you see?" Melissa looked at it for a brief second, "a fox."

"How about this one?"

"George Washington."

Ryan rolled his eyes, he knew she was just being a smart ass now.

Another card, "A panda wearing a hat."

"Alright, this is going no where. What happened to the cooperative Melissa I was with earlier?" Wolfe looked at her sternly. "What happened to the nice Ryan?" She returned the question. The two sat their in silence and stared deeply at one another.

Horatio entered the room slowly and smiled at Melissa. "Melissa Tripp. You're clear for now.."

Delko asked for an explanation, one Horatio was more than glad to give. "There was a message on your friends phone. She tried to text you during her attack. So we know it wasn't you. We know it was her because only her epithirials were on the phone. The text was M3N5A5 ily. Do you have any idea what that means?" Melissa started crying, "We have a code. The number represents the number of letters in the word. So the letter M is comprised of 3 letters, including the M. Ily means I love you." She sobbed and put her head down on the table.

"We also examined your phone, while you were on with the 911 operator, you're friend was calling you…she left this voice mail…" Caine placed the phone on the table.

_Melly? MEL PICK UP! Where the fuck are you? One second, someones at the door. Y-Ahhh _Sara's voice screamed for a sold minute and a half before the recording finished. "Then there was this one…" Caine paused waiting for the next to play. It sounded like footsteps walking around the phone. "Yeah, same room as before bro, that's where that other bitch is. Don't do anything until I get there just go up the fire escape and in the balcony doors." a male voiced boomed and the sound of a body dragging filled the room. "Yeah bro, I have to dispose of this whore first and I'll be there. Lets have some fun." He chuckled. The message ended.

"Calleigh always knows." Delko said quietly to himself. "Hold up though," Ryan stopped everyone, "what about the lady in the room? Maybe she's working with these guys?"

Horatio looked at Wolfe, "Maybe she is…" he took a second to put on his sunglasses, "Maybe she's not." He exited the room. Delko and Ryan stared at a sobbing Melissa.

Frank walked into the room as well, "Let get your things, you can stay with me." Melissa shook her head as Ryan undid her cuffs, "No, I don't want to be around anyone right now." As soon as they were loose she bolted out of the room into the hallway, speedily walking towards the doors. "Melissa…"Ryan called after her, trying to keep up with her long strides. "Mel!" He shouted, she whipped around once outdoors, "What?" She shouted back. Her mascara had been running down her face, her brown hair was a mess. "It's not safe for you, you should really stay with someone. You can't leave Miami until the case is closed."

"Why because I'm some sort of psychopathic killer! Because I might go rape and kill some other woman!" She shouted loudly, Ryan tried to get in a few words but found it difficult. "I know what you're thinking! Maybe she didn't kill her best friend, but yeah she totally looks like someone who would brutally attack someone she doesn't know, who probably lives in fucking Connecticut or something. I know how you C.S.I and police train, the person who has no immediate connection to the victim is likely the killer because they show no remorse. But don't put the scientific crap on me!" She continued her rant.

Ryan placed her hand over her mouth and pushed her against the wall, "Do you want to get arrested again!" He whispered harshly. She boldly removed his hand, "Maybe. I really liked those hookers you left me with." He rolled his eyes, "You… Are fucking impossible. It-its like I'm on some rollarcoaster with you. One minute your a sweet, beautiful, cooperative woman-"

"Who killed two people." She injected with much wit. Ryan rolled his eyes again, "And then you turn into this witty, disastrous girl…" he paused and looked around to see if anyone was around him, "Who is seriously turning me on."

"Yeah well - wait…what?" Melissa stopped in shock and looked up at him, he grinned. "Glad you finally shut up."

A smouldering look washed over her face as she looked into his eyes, "Well played Wolfe. But, you have no idea how well I can play this game." She leaned forward, pressing her body into his, leaving no space between them, "I bet…" She said coyly as she pressed her lips close to his ear, "I know," he gulped audibly, "What _really_ makes you tick…" Melissa laughed and pushed away, "I'll stay at dear old Daddy's. You win…for now."

Ryan stood in his place, unaware of what exactly just went down, he watched her walk over to her father and saw them embrace in a very tight hug. He felt a burning sensation in his stomach, Did she really know what made him tick? Was he actually becoming infatuated with the idea of taking a possible murderer home with him? He shook it off and walked back inside. To further examine the evidence.

**A/N: Oh my God! Im alive! Haha, sorry it's been so long, lost my muse ;) But its all coming back to me now. So Read and review. Also thanks to everyone who has made this story a favourite :)**


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